The House of Commons’ Treasury Select Committee issued the follwoing press notice this afternoon: Treasury Committee press notice no.42 30 April 2008: For Immediate Release Treasury Committee announces new inquiry into Offshore Financial Centres and invites written evidence New inquiry: The Treasury Committee has decided to undertake an inquiry into Offshore Financial Centres, as part Read the Rest…

According to the FT: Mervyn King launched an unusually fierce attack on the bonuses paid to City bankers on Tuesday and vowed to use his second term as governor of the Bank of England to curb the excesses he said had helped provoke the credit crisis. As he put it: I do think it is Read the Rest…

Yesterday’s news that a senior partner in international accountants PKF has been arrested on charges of blatant tax evasion is, I regret, a matter of little surprise. It does however draw attention to a major deficit in the whole initiative to stop tax haven abuse. Tax havens are best described as ‘legislative spaces’. That means Read the Rest…

Alastair Darling has reacted to the ‘exodus‘ of two companies from the UK by launching a review of the competitiveness of the UK’s tax system. There’s no problem with that, although it does look awfully like another decision made after the horse has bolted. There is, however, a massive problem with the proposed composition of Read the Rest…

These are my links for April 29th: Big four control directly linked to higher audit fees – Accountancy Age – I view all such findings with a pinch of salt – the economics in these things are usually pretty poor – but on this occassion I’ll say it’s only a small pinch because the unbderlying Read the Rest…

The FT and many other papers have comment on the so-called exodus of companies leaving the UK. So far it is just two, UBM and Shire. I was curious to note that not all think this will become a flood. Some have also noted that there are real constraints on what UBM and Shire have Read the Rest…

A partner in PKF Vanuatu has been arrested for blatant tax evasion being sold from that tax haven. As Accountancy Age report it: Australian Federal Police (AFP) arrested former Sydney accountant, Robert Agius, principal partner of accountancy firm PKF Vanuatu, on Sunday morning, for operating an offshore tax haven which allowed Australians ‘in the higher Read the Rest…

These are my links for April 28th: FT.com / Comment & analysis / Letters – A Green New Deal could tackle credit and climate crises – The Green New Deal is coming Hickey steps down at Tullow – Accountancy Age – But at least he’s really moving to Ireland, unlike some IASB accelerates off balance Read the Rest…

The Times has reported that: United Business Media (UBM) is to join a growing exodus of companies from the UK by shifting its tax base to Ireland, dealing a fresh blow to the Government’s tax policies. One has to wonder how two is an exodus, but let’s ignore the hype. The company says: United Business Read the Rest…